Blown fibre optic cable at the Thames Barrier.

The Thames Barrier SCADA system, which controls the ten steel gates, was last upgraded between 1994 and 1996. It contains a number of legacy components which needed to be replaced to enable the control system to function more efficiently and effectively.

Phoenix Optics were contracted to replace the existing serial communications network with a new high speed, blown fibre optic cabling solution. The task was to diversely link the North and South river control rooms to each of the 11 barrier control rooms using the up river and down river tunnels under the barrier. The complexity of the vertical cable routes in the piers required the utilisation of industrial abseiling specialists.

4 km of 7 tube microduct was installed, 10 km of 12 core single mode fibre was blown in and 768 LC pigtails were fusion spliced and tested using both OTDR and Fluke DTX testers.

"I just wanted to send my sincere thanks to you and your team for a really great job completed - you have all been focused, professional, supportive, and worked extremely well with our team." ML